Storage container for rectangular items

ABSTRACT

A storage container for holding rectangular items having a height, a width, and a thickness. One such rectangular item is a compact disc jewel case. The storage container is comprised of: a base or lower bracket; an upper bracket; a set of connecting bars which rise from the base connecting the lower bracket to the upper bracket; and one strip of resilient material, such as foam, which is attached flush against the lower bracket. The rectangular item is stored in the storage container by pressing one of the rectangular item&#39;s flat surfaces downward against the resilient material and simultaneously pressing the upper portion of the rectangular item flush against the upper bracket. The rectangular item is kept in place by the upward pressure of the resilient material against the upper bracket which I claim to be the unique mechanism to store the rectangular items. To remove a rectangular item, provide a pressure from the back of the storage container pushing the rectangular item in the opposite direction as inserting the rectangular item. Because there is little friction between the top of the rectangular item and the upper bracket, the rectangular item is angled forward until the top of the rectangular item is no longer within the range of the upper bracket. At that time the rectangular item will be popped from the storage device. An added feature of invention is that the rectangular items can be randomly inserted or removed whereas other mechanisms, such as retaining rectangular items through use of lips on the brackets, cannot randomly access an individual rectangular item.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

This invention relates to storage containers for rectangular and other shaped items having a height, a width and a thickness. Specifically, this invention is for the display of one of the surfaces of the rectangular item. Such a rectangular item is a compact disc in its “jewel case”, a clear polymeric case used for holding CDs. And this invention provides a way to display the front cover of the case which itself encases a booklet and/or compact disk.

2. Background Information

Compact discs (CDs herein) have become immensely popular over the last decade. Over this time, numerous storage containers have been developed to hold the jewel case which encase the compact disc. However, most of these storage containers have focused on storing jewel cases in a high capacity manner. One consequence of this high capacity storage is that the largest of the flat surfaces of the jewel case is obscured; thus only a segment about 4½″ by ¼″ surface is left for the user to recognize the contents of the jewel case. This small area allocated to locating the desired compact disc can lead to frustrating searches requiring close inspection and good eye acuity.

It is thus desirable to provide a storage container for rectangular items, such as a compact disc jewel case, in a manner which fully displays the largest rectangular surface for easy identification of the contents within the jewel case.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the aforementioned, a primary objective of the present invention is to provide a storage container for rectangular items using a unique mechanism to hold the rectangular item in a manner that fully displays the largest surface of the item. The unique mechanism is created by the rectangular item being pressed flush with the bracket from the pressure of resilient material attached an opposed bracket. This mechanism also allows any of the stored rectangular items to be randomly inserted or removed without disturbing adjacent items stored in the storage container.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Names of Labels:

-   12: Lower Bracket -   14: Upper Bracket -   16: Connecting Bars -   18: Resilient Material

FIG. 1

This is a top plan view of a storage container for rectangular items. The shaded region [18] is the resilient material that applies pressure on a rectangular item (not shown) keeping it held within the frame.

FIG. 2

This is a side view of a storage container. The shaded region [18] is is the resilient material which is adhered to the the lower bracket [12]. One can also see that the upper bracket [14] extends orthogonal to the wall, created by the connecting bars [16], on which the rectangular item is pressed against the resilient material [18].

FIG. 3

This is a side view of the storage container depicting the process of inserting a rectangular item as defined by: Applying downward pressure on rectangular item into the resilient material at an angle and simultaneously applying pressure on rectangular item towards the wall of the storage container; whereby, the rectangular item is firmly kept in place by the friction created by the upward pressure of the resilient material and the downward pressure of the upper bracket. To remove the rectangular item, simply do the reverse.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A storage container for holding rectangular items having a height, a width, and a thickness. One such rectangular item is a compact disc “jewel case”. By the term “jewel case” there is meant the transparent plastic case adapted to hold CDs. The storage container is comprised of: a base or lower bracket [12] opposed by an upper bracket [14]; a set of connecting bars [16] which rise from the base connecting the lower bracket to the upper bracket; and at least one strip of resilient material [18], such as foam, which is attached flush against the lower bracket [12]. With reference now to FIG. 2, the wall bracket [16] is coupled to the upper bracket [14] and the lower bracket [12] carrying the resilient material [18]. Screws [20 and 22] maintain the position of the lower [12] and upper brackets [14] relative to each other.

The rectangular item is stored in the storage container by pressing one of the rectangular item's flat surfaces downward upon the resilient material [18] and simultaneously pressing the upper portion of the rectangular item flush against the upper bracket [14] with reference to FIG. 3. The rectangular item is kept in place by the upward pressure of the resilient material [18] against the upper bracket [12], which is what I claim to be the unique mechanism to store the rectangular items. With reference to FIG. 3, to remove a rectangular item, provide a pressure from the back of the storage container pushing the rectangular item in the opposite direction as inserting the rectangular item. Because there is little friction between the top of the rectangular item and the upper bracket [14], the rectangular item is angled forward until the top of the rectangular item is no longer within the range of the upper bracket [14]. At that time the rectangular item will be popped from the storage device. An added feature of invention is that the rectangular items can be randomly inserted or removed whereas other mechanisms, such as retaining rectangular items through use of lips on the brackets, cannot randomly access an individual rectangular item. 

1. A storage container comprised of: a base or lower bracket [12]; an upper bracket [14]; a set of connecting bars [16] which rise from the base connecting the lower bracket [12] to the upper bracket [14]; and one strip of resilient material [18], such as foam, which is attached flush against the lower bracket [14] to produce a upward pressure against the rectangular item being stored.
 2. The resilient material [18] on the storage container, as claimed in 1, creates sufficient pressure against rectangular item(s) and the upper bracket [14] of the storage container and allows the rectangular item(s) to be held firmly in place in any orientation of the storage container.
 3. This storage container, as claimed in 1, allows a rectangular item to be randomly inserted or removed from the storage container without disturbing any other stored rectangular items in the storage container. 